DVDs in Review

East of Eden (TV miniseries) (Harvey Hart, 1981)

Title: East of Eden (TV miniseries) (Harvey Hart, 1981)

Release date: August 2 2010

Certificate: PG

Format: DVD

RRP: £24.99

Rating: 4.5/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Elia Kazan’s beautiful film of ‘East of Eden’ may have made a star out of James Dean in his first leading film role, but it didn’t do John Steinbeck’s mammoth book justice. It captured the essence. It worked. This 1981 miniseries fills in the gaps and spreads it out over 480 minutes.

‘East of Eden’ is suddenly more expansive, less brooding and (unfortunately) a little more like a soap opera but it boasts some incredible performances, particularly Jane Seymour as the overbearing prostitute mother of two brothers - Cal and Aron Trask (the also excellent Sam Bottoms and Hart Bochner).

As the boys fight for acceptance in the worlds of love, business and family, Seymour’s Cathy dictates the action, driving the whole thing. It’s a plum role for any actress (it bagged Jo Van Fleet an Oscar in her first film role back in the 1955 version), and Seymour handles the material masterfully.

Also thrown into the respectful cast is Timothy Bottoms, Bruce Boxleitner, Warren Oates, Howard Duff, Anne Baxter, M Emmet Walsh and Lloyd Bridges, for this tale which echoes the Cain and Abel fable across two generations of the Trask family – first Charles and Adam (Timothy Bottoms and Bruce Boxleitner) and then Cal and Aron. Then there’s the rivalry with another family – the successful Hamilton clan.

There’s a lot of story to plough through, and not much point reiterating it here, but Steinbeck’s world vision and attention to detail remain heavily apparent in Harvey Hart’s direction and Richard Shapiro’s script.  

While its themes are universal, Steinbeck’s biting dissection of modern Americana is the river that runs through the narrative. It sweeps up the characters and propels them back to moments of “original sin”; we get to see the origins of these lives, watch them unfold and see how American business models and modern fragmented family structures tear them apart. ‘East of Eden’ is engrossing, and highly recommended.